Duck of China

For any self-respecting Beijing food blog, it would be a joke to have gone so long without a post on the city's most famous dish, the Peking Duck. Thankfully, The Forbidden Stomach is shameless. Still, after a particularly memorable night out with the famed bird dish, I feel inspired to embrace social norms and share with you, my three faithful readers, about the duck.

The Peking Duck is one of the few institutions in this city that stubbornly clings on to the old English spelling for Beijing. The other being Peking University. I believe part of the reason is because the Beijingers don't really care a duck's butt if foreigners call it Peking Duck or Beijing Duck. To them, it is simply "kao ya" (烤鸭) or roasted duck.


But while they may call it by the same name, the people of Beijing love to debate on which place serves the best duck. It is somewhat akin to Singaporeans' incessant discussion on the best chicken rice. But here, there is what I call a "duck divide" in the discussion, a chasm between the locals and the foreigners. The options for the locals and foreigners are quite different, mainly because of the differences in price. A local restaurant can serve a duck for just 35 yuan, while an expat place can easily charge seven times that price. So while locals talk about the cheaper range of restaurants, expats exchange details on the more high-end ones.

Duck de Chine, as the name makes clear, belongs to the latter category. At 228 yuan per bird, it serves one of the most expensive Peking Ducks here. It is also among the newest, hippest and most popular restaurants now. Opened just before the Olympics, it is housed in Hidden City 1949, that cool place which also has the Noodle Bar.


The menu was not extensive, with a lot of dishes that were, erm, duck-related. In fact, the restaurant was very keen on the duck theme. The duck was served on a plate shaped like a duck. My chopsticks stand was also a duck. There were even display porcelain ducks just sitting around. Like sitting ducks. Haha, sorry, I couldn't resist. There were also two stone ducks (below) at the entrance.


To be honest, I can't really tell the difference between different Peking Ducks....unless they are horrible. Usually, if you go to a top place like Duck de Chine in Beijing, you can be pretty assured that the ducks are crispy and the wraps are thin and warm. So to me, it is usually the attention to details which edge a place over the others. For Duck de Chine, that extra splash of sesame sauce added to the standard Hoi Sin sauce gave it a plus. That the sauce was drawn in a shape of a heart (for ladies) was sweet too.


Another nice touch was serving sesame buns (below) as an alternative to dough wraps for the crispy bird. It was something I had not seen in other places. And in terms of ambience, Duck de Chine (10-6501-8881) scores very highly, as it is set up more as a Western-style diner than a standard Chinese restaurant. So it is quiet, dressed with industrial chic (pipes running across the roof) and with exquisite red lamps above each table, offering enough light for you to see your duck while keeping that cosy feel for the restaurant.


A gong that informs me that my duck had arrived was a tad showy I think, but well, it's something which diners would remember. There was a small selection of non-duck dishes, but really, no one comes to a place named Duck of China for the mutton or the pork. Anyway, you can only order a full duck at Duck de Chine (other restaurants usually allow half-duck orders), so better keep your tummy for the bird.